Children left home but not their stuff?

Box it up and send it on!

We all have this problem to some degree, but parents with children who have left home are the ones who suffer the most.

What do we do with other people’s stuff in our home? We feel guilty if we throw it out, we feel overwhelmed if it is left behind and eventually we may start to hold a grudge with the person who owns the stuff when they don’t collect it.

So what can you do?

Firstly, explain to the owner of the stuff how you are feeling, that you need your space back and could they come to collect it? Sounds obvious right?

If this doesn’t work, follow up by telling them that by a certain date if the stuff isn’t gone, you will start going through and sorting it for them. You will sell the more expensive and not-very-sentimental items and then use that money to ship what you believe to be the sentimental items to them. Sounds fair.

Hopefully, this will light a fire under them and they will come and collect it all. If not, you still have a way to remove all the clutter without any guilt whatsoever. You gave them a chance and the fact they didn’t come probably means it wasn’t really important to them anyway.